Beatriss and Tetsukichi learn that different groups of indigenous peoples claim different cultural practices.

Beatriss and Tetsukichi had plans to return with Golfo and their companions to Xitaqa, the place where Golfo had been imprisoned, and loot the wizard’s treasure.  But on their way up the River Lam, a ragged man on the shore waved frantically for their help.  Their sense of duty and fatalism outweighed their paranoia and they approached him.  He explained that he was from one of the sister villages of Quitokai and that he and several and his neighbors had been captured by slavers.  He had escaped, and needed help to rescue the others.  Beatriss and Tetsukichi agreed to help him.

The villager led the party into the jungle for about an hour and then stopped to point ahead at a wisp of smoke.  There was a clearing there, he explained where the prisoners were held.

The party approached until they came upon a path, where they were spotted by one of the slavers’ sentries.  Before they could raise their bows to fire, the sentry ran away down the path, shouting the alarm.  The party pursued him to a clearing and there a battle ensued.  Beatriss and Tetskuich led the charge, but they were knocked to the ground, stunned, by a hidden spell-caster.  Afu and Ju-Mei called on the power of the Sun Goddess to apprehend the slavers’ archers.

The slavers, numbering about half-a-dozen, commanded another 10-15 men from the jungle.  Hunters rather than warriors, several of these men fell quickly under the blows of Golfo, Naron, and Al-Fitar, and the others fled.  Beatriss and Tetsukichi recovered from whatever spell had affected them.  The villager found his captive friends and began freeing them from their bonds.  Immediately, the freed villagers began attacking the other prisoners with sticks and stones.  Beatriss intervened.  “What are you doing and why are you doing this?”  The man they’d met at the river explained that, several of the captives were not village people, but jungle people.  “They are the ones who help the slavers to find us and catch us.  If you free them, they will kill us later.”  Beatriss ordered that the “jungle people” should not be killed and should not be freed either.   The party ordered the “village people” that they should follow them out of the clearing so they could be taken back to Quitokai.  Golfo stayed behind to free the remaining captives, leaving them to find their own safety. 

, a photo by Brayo on Flickr.

The company returned to Quitokai without further incident.

Putting pieces together in Menkan

The morning after their battle on the dirty side of Mekan, Tetsukichi, Beatriss, and Al-Fitar were nursing their wounds, and eating a late breakfast at The Nice Inn, when who should walk in the door but Golfo’s wife Phi Phong. She was very happy to see them and at the same time very distraught.

Golfo had been captured or killed or had been captured and was about to be killed. She explained what regular readers already know—not long after they left Quitokai in resumption of their mission to find Gwinch, Goyat, and Kawabi, she and Golfo, along with Tsao Ho and the other monks were ambushed by a large group of men, led by a flying sorcerer in yellow robes. Their brave guides had assisted Phi Phong in escaping their assailants, but when she rejoined Tsao Ho and his monks, Golfo was not among them. Two monks had fallen as well and Tsao Ho refused to risk their mission to go back and try to find them.

When it was time to make camp, Phi Phong convinced one of the guides to help her go back and look for Golfo. At the site of the ambush, they found the dead bodies of the monks, but no sign of Golfo. Phi Phong and the guide returned to Quitokai. Some people there knew of Golthar, the flying sorcerer in the yellow robes, that he was in league with the slavers, and that he may well captured Golfo alive, whether to interrogate him or send him to a mine, or for some other evil purpose. They knew that Golthat lived at an ancient citadel known as Xi Ta Qa, but they didn’t know where it was. Phi Phong decided to go to Menkan, both with the hopes of meeting Tetsukichi and enlisting his aid in rescuing his cousin and with the object of finding someone who knew something more about Xi Ta Qa.

Tetsukichi and Beatriss were interested in helping. And they recounted the story of their encounter with Golthat the previous night. They made a plan to return to the scene of last night’s battle, hoping Golfo might be found there.

But first, they were injured, and needed healing. They visited several temples on the north side of Menkan and received some small measure of expert care for their injuries. They also asked various priests if they had heard of Xi Ta Qa, and received a few blank looks and a few vague answers (“in the mountains.”) And when they returned to The Nice Inn, they found a self-styled holy man waiting for them: “I have heard that you are looking for Xi Ta Qa.”

Hermit :), a photo by aufidius on Flickr.

The holy man, who was named Xīngqíliù , said that he knew the exact location of Xi Ta Qa, and that he, with his six brothers, would take them there. “But I will want a favor from you in return. And horses.” Xīngqíliù also agreed, for the price of 30 taels, to accompany them in their return to Golthar’s hideout in Menkan.

When they returned to the dingy neighborhood in the vicinity of the south end of the wharf, they found a crowd of people milling in the alleyway in a state of restrained excitement. The people’s stares seemed less hostile and they gave the party space to pass. Beatriss knocked on the door of the gate, demanding Golfo. “Go away. He’s not here,” said the people inside. There was a woman’s voice among them, probably that of the woman in black robes. After some argument, the party barged in. Besides the woman in the black robes, there were three men, one of them armed with Beatriss’s bow, which she’d dropped the night before. The woman fled while the men held the party at the gate—briefly.

After dispatching with the men, the party pursued the woman through the house and into the street. Here the party hesitated, but then, noting that the crowd was perhaps very subtly hindering her flight, continued the chase. People in the alleyways, with nods and half-glances guided Beatriss into the alley where she at last captured and killed the woman. The party returned to the house, searched it, and found no sign of Golfo. They did however, recover a good bit of money. Now it was time to make plans for Xi Ta Qa. Learning from Xīngqíliù that Xitaqa was on a cliff overlooking the Lam river, they decided not to buy horses, but instead to pay for everyone to go by boat. And so the next morning they set sail.

Slum on Chao Phraya River Bangkok Thailand 1995, a photo by wordcat57 on Flickr.

Tough time in Menkan

Beatriss and Tetsukichi had promised Afu-- the Priest from the Temple of the Sun who had accompanied them from Khanbaliq-- that they would join him in making an expedition to the slaver's stockade in hopes of rescuing any captives still imprisoned there. After several months of delay, they decided that they would delay a little longer and instead make a trip to Menkan, to see if they could hear news of how their families were doing. In this they disappointed not only Afu, but also both Tsao Ho and Golfo, who argued that their commission from the Emperor had not been satisfied-- it was not enough to find that Gwinch was no longer languishing in Quitokai, they had to confirm that he was still pursuing the traitors, and be ready to assume this mission themselves. Without argument, Tetsukichi and Beatriss simply confirmed that they were going to visit Menkan and would return to their responsibilities in good time.

 Tsao Ho with his disciple monks and Golfo, accompanied by his wife Phi Phong, set out on the trail of Gwinch, Kawabi, and Goyat alone, guided by three villagers from Quitokai and the area. Afu declared that he would continue to investigate the slavers' dealings on his own, while waiting in Quitokai. Beatriss and Tetsukichi, accompanied only by Al-Fitar, made good time traveling to Menkan, and checked in at "The Nice Inn," their designated meeting place. And then they got ready to wait for one of Sansar Anca's ("Uncle") men to show up and take them to where the herds were grazing.

 While waiting, they got to know the town.

Temple amidst the river-side slums, Bangkok, Thailand, a photo by JGHurst on Flickr.

Beyond "The Nice Inn," and the avenue where it sits, the town of Menkan is not very nice. The main avenue-- running from the main gate past the governor's house and the favored temples, and a handful of inns and shops catering to Imperial visitors and other well-heeled foreigners, to an imperial warehouse at the riverside-- is the only street well patrolled by the watch.

The three visitors became the subject of much interest, both official and unofficial. They were questioned by the watch who, finding their papers counterfeit, ordered them not to leave the city until representatives from the Sansar family arrived to vouch for them. A fortune teller warned them that a man in yellow robes was looking for them. A dropped note let them know that they were being targeted as "Gwinch's friends" and that their "secret admirers" were meeting that night at a boarded-up tavern on the very south end of the riverfront. They found the moribund tavern, but rather than venture inside, lingered and watched.

dim lights, faint shadows, a photo by Brayo on Flickr.

They noticed someone watching them, a hooded figure who, being noticed, ran down an alley. The party pursued, the lightly-armored Beatriss running ahead, and staying close enough behind the watcher to see him enter a deserted house. They entered the deserted house, and in the upper story found the foot bridge connecting it to a fortified compound. And as they entered the compound, they were attacked by close to a dozen armed men. Beatriss, Tetsukichim and Al-Fitar are seasoned warriors; adopting a disciplined defensive position, they cut down their attackers. But then the spellcasters emerged-- a man in yellow robes and a woman in black robes. The sorcerer's magic seized Beatriss's muscles from within, incapacitating her. And he threw bolts of magic energey at Tetsukichi and Al-Fitar. The initial attackers were replaced by stranger foes, half-human beasts with the heads of rats, and with the rats uncanny habit of popping out of small holes and scurrying up walls.

Chinese Horoscope - Rat, a photo by Yoyo Miyoko on Flickr.

 Al-Fitar lifted Beatriss over his should like a sack of flour and made for the exit, Tetsukichi guarding his retreat and slaying several of the ratmen. But then the sorcerer threw a net of sticky black netting, like the web of spider, both blocking the exit and ensnaring Al-Fitar.

Tetsukichi, unencumbered by any immediate assailants, exchanged his katana for his bow and fired several arrows at the sorcerer who, responded by sailing into the air and out of sight. The black robed woman directed the remaining ratman and her personal guards to attack Tetsukichi, simultaneously offering him a chance to surrender. He hesitated, but then concluded his superior skills still outweighed his attackers' superior numbers (and if nothing else that he would have additional opportunities to surrender) made an all-out counter attack. He swiftly killed most of the his assailants and put the others to flight. For her part, the black-robed woman clumsily clubbed the helpless Beatriss and Al-Fitar and then ran for her life. Tetsukichi did not pursue her. Instead, he cut Al-Fitar's web and together they carried Beatriss across the bridge, and out to alleyway.  They stopped to look for anyone following them, and Tetsukichi spotted the yellow-robed sorcerer, silhouetted against the moon.  As he raised his bow, the sorcerer flew higher, but not fast enough.  The arrow found it mark and a body wrapped in yellow robes plummeted from the sky, crashing the slanted roof of one of the alleyway hovels on its way down.  Their were gaps and muffled cries of surprise all around, but the houses stayed dark and closed.

Treading their way through the slum, the three warriors returned to The Nice Inn.  With some hot water and time, Beatriss muscles loosened and she was back to normal, save for a couple bruises. Tetsukichi and Al-Fitar had suffered some more serious wounds and the three concluded that they should stay at the inn for a few days.

Play Report: Kāi'ěrwén to Quitokai

heart of greenness, a photo by Brayo on Flickr.

The party used the merchant’s directions and followed the northeast branch of the Lam River upstream out of Kāi'ěrwén, opting for the south bank so they could avoid having to make a crossing when they reached Mǐ shā’s Ferry. At about noon, turning a bank in the river, they rode right into the middle of an armed encampment of brigands who, while seemingly prepared to ambush someone traveling on the river, assaulted the party instead. Beatriss, Tetsukichi & co. made short work of the surprised archers, riding over them with horses and slashing them with their swords. They then turned to assist Tsao Ho and his monks who were less capable in defending themselves against the spear-wielding brigands. By the time the battle was over, one of the monks had been killed and most of the others had been badly wounded. Ju-May and Afu tended to the wounded monks while they hastily buried their brother. Two more hours of riding brought them to what they assumed was Mǐ shā’s Ferry— there was a stone building, in the same style as the ancient guardhouse where they’d sheltered in the mountains, on the opposite shore, and there was a boat adrift in the middle of the river. Most importantly to this goal-oriented party, there was a rough road leading south, which according to the merchant’s directions, would lead them closer to Quitokai. They traveled for about an hour before reaching their final turn-off point, the narrow footpath leading east that was supposed to take them to Quitokai itself. Late in the afternoon, they began hearing voices, and through the thick screen of trees, thought they could see the light of a clearing. Continuing on, they smelled the smoke of cooking fires. And then it was quiet. They dismounted and marched into the trees, bushwhacking through the jungle. One hundred yards into the jungle, they didn’t reach a clearing, and feared losing the path. At last they decided to get back on their horses and keep following the path. And after another half hour of riding, they began to see a clearing before them, and then see building, and hear the river and muffled chatter. There was a group of armed warriors waiting for them on the bridge that led into Quitokai. They did not attack, but they were suspicious. When Beatriss mentioned Gwinch, the warriors agreed that Beatriss and Tetsukichi would be allowed to talk to the elders. They were frank with the elders. Gwinch was their friend. They had heard rumors that he had allied himself with the slavers who operated in the border reason and hoping that it wasn’t true, wanted to confirm. The elders responded that Gwinch had been a friend to them and had helped defend them against the slavers. And they welcomed the entire party to stay in Quitokai. Over the next several days, the party debated what to do next. The people of Quitokai explained that after leading a raid on the slaver’s stockade, and rescuing a number of captives, Gwinch and his companions, including two powerful sorcerers, had resumed their mission of chasing down Genral Goyat and General Kawabi. For Beatriss, this was enough, and her first thought was that she was ready to return to Kāi'ěrwén and then Menkan, and then find a way to reunite with her family in Anca Sansar’s grazing lands. But for Tsao Ho and Golfo, it was equally clear that there mission was not only to get an update on Gwinch’s mission, but to take up the search for Goyat and Kawabi themselves. Tsao Ho in particular voice his intention to follow their trail deeper into the jungle. And there was a third option. The escaped captives explained how Gwinch’s sorcerers had released a horrible creature that savaged the residents of the stockade while giving him a chance to rescue them. But he didn’t rescue all of them. There was a dungeon below the stockade where many more were imprisoned. They knew that the horrible creature had likely killed them along with their captors, and yet the hope peristed that they, too, might be rescued.

Play Report: Menkan to Kāi'ěrwén

Beatriss and Tetsukichi said goodbye to Sansar Anca who left them to meet his herds at the grazing grounds to the west. Mekan was the seat of the new governor of Chu Yuan, and while the town itself was orderly to the point of feeling repressive and claustrophobic, the lands outside it were reputed to be nearly lawless. The party spent a few weeks in Menkan, long enough to hear some vague rumors about Gwinch and the village of Quitokai where he had taken up residence, but no definite information—not even how to get to Quitokai—except that it was in the jungle to the south and that someone in the one of the other riverside towns to the south would know the way. Even without Anca Sansar, it was a large group that set from Menkan, following the flow of the river: Beatriss, Afu and his assistant Ju-May, Naron, Tetsukichi, Al-Fitar, Golfo and his wife Phi Phong, Tsao Ho of the Shining Mountain Path Monastery in Khanbaliq and 10 of his disciple monks. They followed a wide and flat, packed dirt road that ran next to the river, through mainly empty land. They saw signs of former agricultural activity and also sample evidence of why it had ceased—a dead man, shot with arrows by the side of the road. And toward midday, they were ambushed themselves. Several monks fell under the first fearsome volley of arrows, but the party spurred their horses into battle and routed the brigands, killing most of them, putting several to flight, and capturing one prisoner. The prisoner boldly proclaimed that he was a member of the Black flowers and that his brothers would avenge his death. The party did not press him for information, and although they marched him along the road with them, when he fled into the bushes, they did not pursue him. By evening, they reached Bùqiāng bīng, a small settlement in the bend of river, featuring an impressive stone temple. The locals were quietly, but decidedly uninterested in talking to foreigners, but the party did strike up a conversation with some other travelers they met at the inn. These men were curious to know how the party knew Gwinch and said that they’d heard all kinds of rumors about him. The party declined their offer to serve as guides to Quitokai. “In that case,” the men said, “just follow the river and you’ll get there.”

Congaree I, a photo by Brayo on Flickr.

After following the river Lam downstream south and west for five days, and— after meeting first a lone traveler (who asked to share their campfire) and then a small group of weather-beaten soldiers (who charged them 5 tael each for “papers”)— who all told them they were going the wrong way, the party wondered whether they had misread the would-be guides from Bùqiāng bīng, and decided to go back upstream, and ask for others’ directions at the place where the Lam was met by two tributaries flowing from the north and east. There was, in fact, a large settlement there, known as Kāi'ěrwén, that they had bypassed on their way down the Lam. In Kāi'ěrwén, the way to Quitokai was well-known, although difficult to describe. A merchant who had plans to trade in Quitokai offered to show them the way in exchange for their protection from any bandits. There had been a lot of trouble in Quitokai and the other villages on the edge of the jungle. As the merchant explained, the hunter tribes who lived in the jungle had been attacking the agricultural settlements. Beatriss mentioned that she knew Gwinch, the foreigner whom the merchant praised—with some equivocation— for rallying the people of Quitokai to defend themselves against the raids. The merchant was glad to know this and wanted to know more, but Beatriss had little information to give. The next morning, before setting off, the merchant suggested that they go together to one of the temples in Kāi'ěrwén and ask for traveling blessings. Beatriss agreed, but was a little suspicious. The ceremony itself, at a solid, little temple devoted to The Path, was short and almost pedestrian. Beatriss talked to the officiating monk and found no reason for her vague suspicions. But the merchant apologized to Beatriss and Tetsukichi that he did not think it was the correct day for him to travel and that he didn’t know when he would be ready. He provided them very precise directions, advised them of the pros and cons of alternate routes, and warned them that the people of Quitokai were wary of outsiders, and very able in protecting themselves, even against powerful foes.

Play Report: Khanbaliq to Menkan

The caravan traveled for several weeks without major incident. Everyone had their reasons to be glad that the city was behind them and their reason to hope that something new and good— whether a commission from the Emperor, a title, or just good grazing lands, a more secure and peaceful life, unfettered freedom, and fresh air— lay before them. But after a few weeks, and as they reached Chu. Yuanprovince, not only did they begin to weary of travel—they also found the way more challenging. Bad government had taken a toll on the people’s spirit and on the land itself. Farmers did not welcome nomads with their herds of grazing animals and the townspeople did not welcome anyone associated with the same distant Emperor who had sent General Goyat and General Kawabi. As they moved south, they encountered more outright hostility. While the large group of warriors were not seriously threatened, Sansar Anca prefer to avoid being forced to spill the blood of hungry people into order to protect his cattle and goats. So, rather than continue through the most devastated parts of Chu Yuan, he divided the caravan. The main body—comprising most of the “civilians” (including Beatriss’s children and servants as well as Tetsukichi’s wife and daughter), his herds, and a good number of warriors— would head Northwest, taking the long way around the Lincang Mountains to reach the grazing grounds that were their final destination. Sansar himself, with a smaller number of experienced warrior, plus some goats and herders would escort the party to the border as originally planned, but would also take an alternate route from what he had first intended. They would limit their exposure to bandits and angry peasants in Chu Yuan by travelling over the mountains.

白馬雪山, a photo by oeyvind on Flickr.

The trip was arduous and at times dangerously cold. On the morning of the second day of travel, some of the herders reported finding unidentified footprints in the snow field near their camp. During the worst of several storms that delayed them near the top of the pass, the travelers found a stone structure, the long abandoned outpost of a former empire. As their rations dwindled, they decided to slaughter a few of the goats. Despite these challenges, after about 10 days, the travelers reached the other side of the mountains and arrived at Menkan, the last Imperial town in Chu yuan.